Crafting Futures is a British Council programme focused on the development of crafts around the world. Its main aim is to boost economic, social and cultural growth through learning, research and collaboration among participants. Crafting Futures promotes innovation in materials and techniques, through exchange and experimentation, respecting and upholding traditional heritage. Designers and craftsmen work together sharing their experience with the goal of reaching new audiences and markets, ensuring that crafts are positioned as a fundamental element of the art sector.
In August 2017, the British Council, in collaboration with Oax-i-fornia and curator Ana Elena Mallet, launched Crafting Futures Mexico, an experimental collaboration that stimulates a creative dialogue between British and Mexican designers and local emerging designers, to work with a select group of artisans in Oaxaca. The residency generated new design methodologies were as tools of social change.
Crafting Futures Mexico continues in 2018 with new partnerships, including a collaboration with Applied Arts Scotland, that complement the programme and establish long-lasting ties between UK and Mexican designers and artisans.
